^r%-;: Ji^N-,1 '.w/z * - r v EL A -A-T. * / V : '-^-c:,.-v- f-J>'' '::;;;' ~-,j&^- ' '*'~ a \i!R, J '^4S$vt& '^EIC-S hfo :W ;;,.~ i''- "''" .? "'.( /.'./ ' \*l> ifil^l^^ Illte^Mt;^ .Me \V^ ftSvtv ' AGH / V- V^x J, W Mt/RRAY'i ^j^?^S^''- : ^>:?^i-' . - - , :. . j-iir'^r-' > *"" "'">" " * '-i-_- '<>;' ~ f***^ " - --*' v- = ^-*B[**,i./.*"k ^i^*-^"^^"^-.'^ -- ' 3. X- X!-^%^' ^^~~~^-. ! rix." i: > ;.-; isd^ii^ ~* cb c Cl n i v c 1-5 i I v of Cb liib varies DURRETT COLLECTION ALTEMUS' ETERNAL LIFE SERIES. Selections from the writings ofwell-hnoivn religious authors' works, beautifully printed and daintily bound in leatherette with original designs in sillier and ink. PRICE, 25 CENTS PER VOLUME. ETERNAL LIFE, by Professor Henry Drummond. LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY, by Rev. Andrew Murray. GOD'S WORD AND GOD'S WORK, by Martin Luther. FAITH, by Thomas Arnold. THE CREATION STORY, by Honorable William E. Gladstone. THE MESSAGE OF COMFORT, by Rt. Rev. Ashton Oxenden. THE MESSAGE OF PEACE, by Rev. R. W. Church. THE LORD'S PRAYER AND THE TEN COM- MANDMENTS, by Dean Stanley. THE MEMOIRS OF JESUS, by Rev. Robert F. Horton. HYMNS OF PRAISE AND GLADNESS, by Elisabeth R. Scovil. DIFFICULTIES, by Hannah Whitall Smith. GAMBLERS AND GAMBLING, by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. HAVE FAITH IN GOD, by Rev. Andrew Murray. TWELVE CAUSES OF DISHONESTY, by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. THE CHRIST IN WHOM CHRISTIANS BELIEVE, by Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks. IN MY NAME, by Rev. Andrew Murray. SIX WARNINGS, by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. THE DUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN BUSINESS MAN, by Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks. POPULAR AMUSEMENTS, by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. TRUE LIBERTY, by Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks. INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. THE BEAUTY OF A LIFE OF SERVICE, by Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD, by Rev. A. T. Pierson.D.D. THOUGHT AND ACTION, by Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks. THE HEAVENLY VISION, by Rev. F. B. Meyer. MORNING STRENGTH, by Elisabeth R. Scovil. FOR THE QUIET HOUR, by Edith V. Bradt. EVENING COMFORT, by Elisabeth. R. Scovil. WORDS OF HELP FOR CHRISTIAN GIRLS, by Rev. F. B. Meyer. HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE, by Rev. Dwight L. Moody. EXPECTATION CORNER, by E. S. Elliot. JESSICA'S FIRST PRAYER, by Hesba Stretton. HENRY ALTEMUS, 507, 500, 511,513 Cherry Street, Philadelphia. ANDREW MURRAY ; , - Lord, Teach Us To Pray Rev. j/ Andrew Murray Philadelphia Henry Altemus ANDREW MURRAY Lord, Teach Us To Pray By Rev. Andrew ;7^F Murrav ;' : ; | Philadelphia . > v- -r T 7 Henrv Altemu? ,, 7T c o 6 (J u * * -* B Copyright, 1896, by HENRY ALTEMUS. SE3J 4-7 ' LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY OB THE ONLY TEACHER. THE disciples had been with Christ, and seen Him pray. They had learnt to understand something of the connection between His wondrous life in pub? lie, and His secret life of prayer. They had learnt to believe in Him as a Master in the art of prayer none could pray like Him. And so they came to Him with the request, 'Lord, teach us to pray. ' And in after years they would have told us that there were few things more wonderful or blessed that He taught them than His lessons on prayer. And now still it comes to pass, as He is praying in a certain place, that disciples who see Him thus en- gaged feel the need of repeating the same request, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' As we grow in the Chris- 5 6 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. tian life, the thought and the faith of the Beloved Master in His never-failing intercession becomes evermore precious, and the hope of being Like Christ in His intercession gains an attractiveness before un- known. And as we see Him pray, and remember that there is none who can pray like Him, and none who can teach like Him, we feel the petition of the disciples, 'Lord, teach us to pray,' is just what we need. And as we think how all He is and has, how He Himself is our very own, how He is Himself our life, we feel assured that we have but to ask, and He will be delighted to take us up into closer fel- lowship with Himself, and teach us to pray even as He prays. Come, my brothers ! Shall we not go to the Blessed Master and ask Him to enrol our names too anew in that school which He always keeps open for those 'Who long to continue their studies in the Divine 'art of prayer and intercession ? Yes, let ns this very day say to the Master, as they did of old, 'Lord, teach us to pray. ' As we meditate we shall find each word of the petition we bring to be full of meaning. 'Lord, teach us to prayS Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its begin- nings prayer is so simple that the feeble child can pray, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers THE ONLY TEACHER. 7 of the eternal world have teen placed at its disposal. It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of all blessings, the secret of power and life. Not only for ourselves, but for others, for the Church, for the world, it is to prayer that God has given the right to take hold of Him and His strength. It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfilment, the king- dom for its coming, the glory of God for its full reve- lation. And for this blessed work, how slothful and unfit we are. It is only the Spirit of God can enable ns to do it aright. How speedily we are deceived into a resting in the form, while the power is wanting. Our early training, the teaching of the Church, the influence of habit, the stirring of the emotions how easily these lead to prayer which has no spiritual power, and avails but little. True prayer, that takes hold of God's strength, that availeth much, to which the gates of heaven are really opened wide who would not cry, Oh for some one to teach me thus to pray? Jesus has opened a school, in which He trains His redeemed ones, who specially desire it, to have power in prayer. Shall we not enter it with the petition, Lord ! it is just this we need to be taught! teach us to pray. 'Lord, teach us to pray.' Yes, us, Lord. We have read in Thy "Word with what power Thy believ- ing people of old used to pray, and what mighty 8 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. wonders were done in answer to their prayers. And if this took place under the Old Covenant, in. the time of preparation, how much more wilt Thou not now, in these days of fulfilment, give Thy people this sure sign of Thy presence in their midst. We have heard the promises given to Thine apostles of the power of prayer in Thy name, and have seen how gloriously they experienced their truth : we know for certain, they can become true to us too. We hear continually even in these days what glorious tokens of Thy power Thou dost still give to those who trust Thee fully. Lord ! these all are men of like passions with ourselves; teach us to pray so too. The prom- ises are for us, the powers and gifts of the heavenly world are for us. teach us to pray so that we may receive abundantly. To us too Thou hast entrusted Thy work, on our prayer too the coming of Thy kingdom depends, in our prayer too Thou canst glorify Thy name; 'Lord, teach us to pray.' Yes, us, Lord; we offer ourselves as learners; we would indeed be taught of Thee. 'Lord, teach us to pray.' 'Lord, teach us to pray.' Yes, we feel the need now of being tauglit to pray. At first there is no work appears so simple; later on, none that is more difficult; and the confession is forced from us: We know not how to pray as we ought. It is true we have God's Word, with its clear and sure promises; but sin has so darkened our mind, that we know not THE ONLY TEACHER. 9 always how to apply the "Word. In spiritual things we do not always seek the most needful things, or fail in praying according to the law of the sanctuary. In temporal things we are still less able to avail our- selves of the 'wonderful liberty our Father has given us to ask what we need. And even when we know what to ask, how much there is still needed to make prayer acceptable. It must be to the glory of God, in full surrender to His will, in full assurance of faith, in the name of Jesus, and with a perseverance that, if need be, refuses to be denied. All this must be learned. It can only be learned in the school of much prayer, for practice makes perfect. Amid the painful consciousness of ignorance and unworthiness, in the struggle between believing and doubting, the heavenly art of effectual prayer is learnt. Because, even when we do not remember it, there is One, the Beginner and Finisher of faith and prayer, who watches over our praying, and sees to it that in all who trust Him, for it their education in the school of prayer shall be carried on to perfection. Let but the deep undertone of all our prayer be the teachableness that comes from a sense of ignorance, and from faith in Him as a perfect teacher, and we may be sure we shall be taught, we shall learn to pray in power. Yes, we may depend upon it, HE teaches to pray. 'Lord, teach us to pray.' None can teach like Jesus, none but Jesus; therefore we call on Him, 10 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. *LOBD, teach ns to pray.' A pupil needs a teacher, who knows his work, who has the gift of teaching, who in patience and love will descend to the pupil's needs. Blessed be God ! Jesus is all this and much more. He knows what prayer is. It is Jesus, pray- ing Himself, who teaches to pray. He knows what prayer is. He learned it amid the trials and tears of His earthly life. In heaven it is still His beloved work: His life there is prayer. Nothing delights Him more than to find those whom He can take with Him into the Father's presence, whom He can clothe with power to pray down God's blessing on those around them, whom He can train to be His fellow- workers in the intercession by which the kingdom is to be revealed on earth. He knows how to teach. Now by the urgency of felt need, then by the confi- dence with which joy inspires. Here by the teaching of the Word, there by the testimony of another be- liever who knows what it is to have prayer heard. By His Holy Spirit, He has access to our heart, and teaches us to pray by showing us the sin that hinders the prayer, or giving us the assurance that we please God. He teaches, by giving not only thoughts of what to ask or how to ask, but by breathing within us the very spirit of prayer, by living within us as the Great Intercessor. "We may indeed and most joyfully say, 'Who teacheth like Him?' Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray. He THE ONLY TEACHER. 11 did not speak much of what was needed to preach well, but much of- praying well. To know how to speak to God is more than knowing how to speak to man. Not power with men, but power with God is the first thing. Jesus loves to teach us how to pray. What think you, my beloved fellow-disciples! would it not be just what we need, to ask the Master for a month to give us a course of special lessons on the art of prayer? As we meditate on the words He spake on earth, let us yield ourselves to His teaching in the fullest confidence that, with such a teacher, we shall make progress. Let us take time not only to meditate, but to pray, to tarry at the foot of the throne, and be trained to the work of intercession. Let us do so in the assurance that amidst our stam- merings and fears He is carrying on His work most beautifully. He will breathe His own life, which is all prayer, into us. As He makes us partakers of His righteousness and His life, He will of His intercession too. As the members of His body, as a holy priest- hood, we shall take part in His priestly work of pleading and prevailing with God for men. Yes, let us most joyfully say, ignorant and feeble though we be, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' 'LOED, TEACH US TO PKAY. J Blessed Lord ! who ever livest to pray, Thou canst teach me too to pray, me to live ever to pray. In 2 12 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. this Thou lovest to make me share Thy glory in heaven, that I should pray without ceasing, and ever stand as a priest in the presence of iny God. Lord Jesus ! I ask Thee this day to enrol my name among those who confess that they know not how to pray as they ought, and especially ask Thee for a course of teaching in prayer. Lord! teach me to tarry with Thee in the school, and give Thee time to train me. May a deep sense of my ignorance, of the wonderful privilege and power of prayer, of the need of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of prayer, lead me to cast away my thoughts of what I think I know, and make me kneel "before Thee in true teachableness and poverty of spirit. And fill me, Lord, with the confidence that with such a teacher as Thou art I shall learn to pray. In the assurance that I have as my teacher, Jesus, who is ever praying to the Father, and by His prayer rules the destinies of His Church and the world, I will not be afraid. As much as I need to know of the mysteries of the prayer-world, Thou wilt unfold for me. And when I may not know, Thou wilt teach me to be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Blessed Lord! Thou wilt not put to shame Thy scholar who trusts Thee, nor, by Thy grace, would he Thee either. Amen. 'IN SPIEIT AND TBUTH;' OR THE TEUE WOESHIPPEES. 'The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth : for such doth the Father seek to be His worshippers. God is a Spirit : and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. 'JOHN iv. 23, 24. npHESE words of Jesus to the woman of Samaria -L are His first recorded teaching on the subject of prayer. They give us some wonderful first glimpses into the world of prayer. The Father. seeks worship- pers: our worship satisfies His loving heart and is a joy to Him. He seeks 'true worshippers, but finds many not such as He would have them. True wor- ship is that which is in spirit and truth. TJie Son lias come to open the way for this worship in spirit and in truth, and teach it us. And so one of our first lessons in the school of prayer must be to understand what it is to pray in spirit and in truth, and to know how we can attain to it. 13 14 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. To the woman of Samaria our Lord spoke of a threefold -worship. There is, first, the ignorant wor- ship of the Samaritans : ' Ye worship that which ye know not. ' The second, the intelligent worship of the Jew, having the true knowledge of God: 'We worship that which we know ; for salvation is of the Jews.' And then the new, the spiritual worship which He Himself has come to introduce: 'The hour is coining, and is now, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth.' From the connection it is evident that the words in spirit and truth' do not mean, as is often thought, ear- nestly, from the heart, in sincerity. The Samaritans had the five books of Moses and some knowledge of God; there was doubtless more than one among them who honestly and earnestly sought God in prayer. The Jews had the true full revelation of God in His word, as thus far given; there were among them godly men, who called upon God with their whole heart. And yet not 'in spirit and truth,' in the full meaning of the words. Jesus says, ' The hour is com- ing, and now is : ' it is only in and through Him that the worship! of God will be in spirit and truth. Among Christians one still finds the three classes of worshippers. Some who in their ignorance hardly know what they ask: they pray earnestly, and yet receive but little. Others there are, who have more correct knowledge, who try .to pray with all their THE TRUE WORSHIPPERS. 15 mind and heart, and often pray most earnestly, and yet do not attain to the full blessedness of worship in spirit and truth. It is into this third class we must ask our Lord Jesus to take us; we must be taught of Him how to worship in spirit and truth. This alone is spiritual worship; this makes us worship- pers such as the Father seeks. In prayer everything will depend on our understanding well and practising the worship in spirit and truth. 'God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. ' The first thought suggested here by the Master is that there must be harmony between God and His worshippers; such as .God is, must His worship be. This is according to a principle which prevails throughout the universe: we look for correspondence between an object and the organ to which it reveals or yields itself. The eye has an inner fitness for the light, the ear for sound. The man who would truly worship God, would find and know and possess and enjoy God, must be in har- mony with Him, must have a capacity for receiving Him. Because God is Spirit, we must worship in spirit. As God is, so His worshipper. And what does this mean? The woman had asked our Lord whether Samaria or Jerusalem was the true place of worship. He answers that henceforth wor- ship is no longer to be limited to a certain place: 'Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh when neither in 1C LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father.' As God is Spirit, not hound by space or time, but in His infinite perfection always and everywhere the same, so His worship would hence- forth no longer he confined by place or form, but spiritual as God Himself is spiritual. A lesson of deep importance. How much our Christianity suffers from this, that it is confined to certain times and places. A man who seeks to pray earnestly in the church or in the closet, spends the greater part of the week or the day in a spirit entirely at variance with that in which he prayed. His worship was the work of a fixed place or hour, not of his whole being. God is a spirit: He is the Everlasting and Unchange- able One; what He is, He is always and in truth. Our worship must even so be in spirit and truth : His worship must be the spirit of our life; our life must be worship in spirit as God is Spirit. 'God is a Spirit : and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.' The second thought that comes to us is that this worship in the spirit must come from God Himself. God is Spirit : He alone has Spirit to give. It was for this He sent His Son, to fit us for such spiritual worship, by giv- ing us the Holy Spirit. It is .of His. own work that Jesus speaks when He says twice, 'The hour cometh,' and then adds, 'and is now.' He came to baptize with the Holy Spirit; the Spirit could not stream THE TRUE WORSHIPPERS. 17 forth till He was glorified (John i. 83, vii. 37, 38, xvi. 7). It was when He had made an end of sin, and entering into the Holiest of all with His blood, had there on our behalf received the Holy Spirit (Acts ii. 33), that He could send Him down to us as the Spirit of the Father. It was when Christ had redeemed us, and we in Him had received the posi- tion of children, that the Father sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts to cry, 'Abba, Father. ' The worship in spirit is the worship of the Father in the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Sonship. This is the reason why Jesus here uses the name of Father. We never find one of the Old Testament saints personally appropriate the name of child or call God his Father. The worship of the Father is only possible to those to whom the Spirit of the Son has been given. The worship in spirit is only pos- sible to those to whom the Son has revealed the Father, and who have received the spirit of Sonship. It is only Christ who opens the way and teaches the worship in spirit. And in truth. That does not only mean, in sin- cerity. Nor does it only signify, in accordance with the truth of God's Word. The expression is one of deep and Divine meaning. Jesus is 'the only-begot- ten of the Father, fu ttof grace and truth.' 'The law was given by Moses; grace and -truth came by Jesus Christ.' Jesus says, 'I am the truth and the life.' 18 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. In the Old Testament all was shadow and promise; Jesus brought and gives the reality, the substance, of things hoped for. In Him the blessings and powers of the eternal life are our actual possession and ex- perience. Jesus is full of grace and truth ; the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth ; through Him the grace that is in Jesus is ours indeed, and truth a positive communication out of the Divine life. And so wor- ship in spirit is worship in truth; actual living fel- lowship with God, a real correspondence and har- mony between the Father, who is a Spirit, and the child praying in the spirit. "What Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, she could not at once undertand. Pentecost was needed to reveal its full meaning. "We are hardly prepared at our first entrance into the school of prayer to grasp such teaching. We shall understand it better later on. Let us only begin and take the lesson as He gives it. We are carnal and cannot bring God the worship He seeks. But Jesus came to give the Spirit : He has given Him to us. Let the disposition in which we set ourselves to pray be what Christ's words have taught us. Let there be the deep con- fession of our inability to bring God the worship that is pleasing to Him; the childlike teachableness that waits on Him to instruct us; the simple faith that yields itself to the breathing of the Spirit. Above all, let us hold fast the blessed truth we shall find THE TRUE WORSHIPPERS. 19 that the Lord has more to say to us about it that the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God, the revela- tion of His infinite Fatherliness in our hearts, the faith in the infinite love that gives us His Son and His Spirit to make us children, is indeed the secret of prayer in spirit and truth. This is the new and living way Christ opened up for us. To have Christ the Son, and The Spirit of the Son, dwelling within, us, and revealing the Father, this makes us true, spiritual worshippers. * LORD, TEACH US TO PEAT. ' Blessed Lord ! I adore the love with which Thou didst teach a woman, who had refused Thee a cup of water, what the worship of God must he. I rejoice in the assurance that Thou wilt no less now instruct Thy disciple, who comes to Thee with a heart that longs to pray in spirit and in truth. my Holy Master ! do teach me this blessed secret. Teach me that the worship in spirit and truth is not of man, but only comes from Thee; that it is not only a thing of times and seasons, but the 'out- flowing of a life in Thee. Teach me to draw near to God in prayer under the deep impression of my ig- norance and my having nothing in myself to offer Him, and at the same time of the provision Thon, my Saviour, makest for the Spirit's breathing in my 'jw LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. childlike stammerings. I do bless Thee that in Thee I am a child, and have a child's liberty of access:- 1 V * that in Thee I have the spirit of Sonship and of wor- ship of truth. Teach me, above all, Blessed Son of the Father, how it is the revelation of the Father that gives confidence in prayer; and let the in- finite Fatherliness of God's Heart be my joy and strength for a life of prayer and of worship. Amen. PRAY TQ THY FATHER WHICH IS SECEET OB ALONE WITH GOD. 'But thou, when fchou prayest, enter into thine inner Chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense thee. ' MATT. vi. 6. A FTER Jesus had called His first disciples He *- gave them t-heir first public teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. He there expounded to them the kingdom of God, its laws and its life. la that kingdom God is not only King, but Father; He not only gives all, but is Himself all. In the knowledge and fellowship of Him alone is its blessedness. Hence it came as a matter of course that the revelation of prayer and the prayer-life was a part of His teaching concerning the New Kingdom He came to set up. Moses gave neither command nor regulation with re- gard to prayer: even the prophets say little directly of the duty of prayer; it is Christ who teaches to pray. 21 22 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. And the first thing the Lord teaches His disciples is that they must have a secret place for prayer; every one must have some solitary spot where he can be alone with his God. Every teacher must have a schoolroom. We have learnt to know and accept Jesus as our only teacher in the school of prayer. He has already taught us at Samaria that worship is no longer confined to times and places; that wor- ship, spiritual true worship, is a thing of the spirit and the life ; the whole man must in his whole life he worship in spirit and truth. And yet He wants each one to choose for himself the fixed spot where He can daily meet him. That inner chamber, that soli- tary place, is Jesus' schoolroom. That spot may be anywhere; that spot may change from day to day if we have to change our abode ; but that secret place there must be, with the quiet time in which the pupil places himself in the Master's presence, to be by Him prepared to worship the Father. There alone, bul; there most surely, Jesus comes to us to teach us to pray. A teacher is always anxious that his schoolroom should be bright and attractive, filled with the light and air of heaven, a place where pupils long to come, and love to stay. In His first words on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus seeks to set the inner chamber before us in its most attractive light. If we listen carefully, we soon notice what the chief ALONE WITH GOD. 23 thing is He has to tell us of our tarrying there. Three times He uses the name of Father: 'Pray to thy Father;'' ''Thy Father shall recompense thee;' 6 Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of.' The first thing in closet-prayer is: I must meet my Father. The light that shines in the closet must be: the light of the Father's countenance. The fresh air from heaven with which Jesus would have filled the atmosphere in which I am to breathe and pray, is: God's Father-love, God's infinite Fatherliness. Thus each thought or petition we breathe out will be simple, hearty, childlike trust in the Father. This is how the Master teaches us to pray: He brings us into the Father's living presence. What we pray there must avail. Let us listen carefully to hear what the Lord has to say to us. First, Pray to thy Father which is in secret. ' God is a God who hides Himself to the carnal eye. As long as in our worship of God we are chiefly occupied with our own thoughts and exercises, we shall not meet Him who is a Spirit, the unseen One. But to the man who withdraws himself from all that is of the world and man, and prepares to wait upon God alone, the Father will reveal Himself. As he forsakes and gives up and shuts out the world, and the life of the world, and surrenders himself to be led of Christ into the secret of God's presence, the light of the Father's love will rise upon, him. The secrecy of the inner 24 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. chamber and the closed door, the entire separation from all around us, is an image of, and so a help to, that inner spiritual sanctuary, the secret of God's tabernacle, within the veil, where our spirit truly comes into contact with the Invisible One. And so we are taught, at the very outset of our search after the secret of effectual prayer, to remember that it is in the inner chamber, where we are alone with the Father, that we shall learn to pray aright. The Father is in secret: in these words Jesus teaches us where He is waiting us, where He is always to be found. Christians often complain that private prayer is not what it should be. They feel weak and sinful, the heart is cold and dark ; it is as if they have so little to pray, and in that little no faith or joy. They are discouraged and kept from prayer by the thought that they cannot come to the Father as they ought or as they wish. Child of God ! listen to your Teacher. He tells you that when you go to private prayer your first thought must be: The Father is in secret, the Father waits me there. Just because your heart is cold and prayerless, get you into the presence of the loving Father. As a father pifcieth his children, so the Lord pitieth yon. Do not be thinking of how little you have to bring God, but of how much He wants to give you. Just place yourself before, and look up into, His face; think of His love, His wonderful, tender, pitying love. ALONE WITH GOD. 25 Just tell Him how sinful and cold and dark all is: ib is the Father's loving heart -will give light and warmth to yours. do what Jesus says: Just shut the door, and pray to thy Father, which is in secret. Is it not wonderful? to he able to go alone with God, the infinite God. And then to look up and say : My Father! 1 A nd tliy Father, which seetJi in secret, will recom- pense ihee. ' Here Jesus assures us that secret prayer cannot be fruitless : its blessing will show itself in our life. We have but in secret, alone with God, to en- trust our life before men to Him ; He will reward us openly ; He will see to it that the answer to prayer be made manifest in His blessing upon us. Our Lord would thus teach us that as infinite Fatherliness and Faithfulness is that with which God meets us in se- cret, so on our part there should be the childlike simplicity of faith, the confidence that our prayer does bring down a blessing. 'He that cometh to God must believe that He is a rewarder of them that seek Him. ' Not on the strong or the fervent feel- ing with which I pray does the blessing of the closet depend, but upon the love and the power of the Father to whom I there entrust my needs. And therefore the Master has but one desire: Eemember your Father is, and sees and hears in secret; go there and stay there, and go again from there in the confi- dence: He will recompense. Trust Him for it; de- 26 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. pend upon Hi in : prayer to the Father cannot be vain ; He will reward you openly. Still further to confirm this faith in the Father-love of God, Christ speaks a third word: * Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of "before ye ask Him.' 1 At first sight it might appear as if this thought made prayer less needful: God knows far better than we what we need. But as we get a deeper insight into what prayer really is, this truth will help much to strengthen our faith. It will teach ns that we do not need, as the heathen, with the multitude and urgency of our words, to compel an unwilling God to listen to ns. It will lead to a holy thoughtfulness and silence in prayer as it sug- gests the question : Does my Father really know that I need this? It will, when once we have been led by the Spirit to the certainty that our request is in- deed something that, according to the "Word, we do need for God's glory, give us wonderful confidence to say, My Father knows I need it and must have it. And if there be any delay in the answer, it will teach us in quiet perseverance to hold on : FATHER ! THOU KTTOWEST I need it. the blessed liberty and sim- plicity of a child that Christ our Teacher would fain cultivate in us, as we draw near to God : let us look up to the Father until His Spirit works it in us. Let us sometimes in our prayers, when we are in danger of being so occupied with our fervent, urgent ALONE WITH GOD. 27 petitions, as to forget that the Father knows and hears, let us hold still and just quietly say: My Father sees, my Father hears, my Father knows ; it will help our faith to take the answer, and to say : We know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him. And now, all ye who have anew entered the school of Christ to he taught to pray, take these lessons, practise them, and trust Him to perfect you in them. Dwell much in the inner chamber, with the door shut shut in from men, shut up with God; it is there the Father waits you, it is there Jesus will teach you to pray. To be alone in secret with THE FATHER: this be your highest joy. To be assured that THE FATHER will openly reward the secret prayer, so that it cannot remain unblessed : this be your strength day by day. And to know that THE FATHER knows that you need what you ask, this be your lib- erty to bring every need, in the assurance that your God will supply it according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ' LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. ' Blessed Saviour ! with my whole heart I do bless Thee for the.appointment of the inner chamber, as the school where Thou meetest each of Thy pupils alone, and revealest to him the Father. my Lord! strengthen my faith so in the Father's tender love and kindness, that as often as I feel sinful or trou- 28 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. bled, the first instinctive thought may be to go where I know the Father waits me, and where prayer never can go unblessed. Let the thought that He knows my need before I ask, bring me, in great restfulness of faith, to trust that He will give what His child requires. let the place of secret prayer become to me the most beloved spot on earth. And, Lord! hear me as I pray that Thou wouldest everywhere bless the closets of Thy believing people. Let Thy wonderful revelation of a Father's tender- ness free all young Christians from every thought of secret prayer as a duty or a burden, and lead them to regard it as the highest privilege of their life, a joy and a blessing. Bring back all who are discouraged, because they cannot find aught to bring Thee in prayer. give them to understand that they have only to come with their emptiness to Him who has all to give, and delights to do it. Not, what they have to bring the Father, but what the Father waits to give them, be their one thought. And bless especially the inner chamber of all Thy servants who are working for Thee, as the place where God's truth and God's grace is revealed to them, where they are daily anointed with fresh oil, where their strength is renewed, and the blessings are re- ceived in faith, with which they are to bless their fellow-men. Lord, draw us all in the closet nearer to Thyself and the Father. Amen.